This Core Guidance on the Evaluating Charter School Replicators accompanies NACSA’s Knowledge Core course, “Charter Application Process and Decision Making: Focus on Replication.” It is intended to assist authorizers in using the Core Resource templates and tools to develop or improve their own application process and materials.

This is the NACSA Core Replication Application Addendum Evaluation Criteria that accompanies NACSA’s Knowledge Core course, “Charter Application Process and Decision Making: Evaluating School Replicators” and is an addendum to NACSA’s Core Charter School Application. The Core Replication Addendum Evaluation Criteria is designed for use in conjunction with the Core Application Criteria and is intended as a template to assist authorizers in developing their own application evaluation criteria for use in evaluating applications to replicate an existing school or school model.

This is the NACSA Core Replication Application Addendum that accompanies NACSA’s Knowledge Core course, “Charter Application Process and Decision Making: Evaluating School Replicators” and is an addendum to NACSA’s Core Charter School Application. The Addendum is intended as a template for authorizers to use in developing their own application addenda for use by applicants seeking to replicate an existing school or school model.

One of the most important and high-profile issues in public education reform today is the replication of successful public charter school programs. With more than 5,000 failing public schools in the United States, there is a tremendous need for strong alternatives for parents and students.

Authorizers around the country have said this since the first authorizing shop opened in Minnesota in 1992. Sometimes, the concern is well-founded. Not every problem requires an identical solution.

But as the charter school sector expands and matures, the database of what’s needed and what works grows more robust. Certain patterns have emerged and NACSA is paying close attention to them.

This case study is one in a series that explores local progress on charter school authorizing in various corners of our country. We’ll dig into what was needed, how it happened, and why it matters to the ultimate quest we’re all on: creating and sustaining great public schools for all U.S. children.

The series continues on our nation’s East Coast, in New Jersey, a microcosm of all the promise and problems in our nation’s public school system. We pay attention to New Jersey—a state that has been chartering schools since 1997—for its dramatic efforts to improve authorizing practices during the last few years. They have stepped away from mere compliance into the light of performance, shaking up the status quo and deciding that “as good as” wasn’t good enough for their charter school sector.

The Charter School Sector continues to expand as parents seek high-quality public education options. In 2012-2013, the sector served more than 2.3 million students in nearly 6,000 schools. If recent growth trends … Read Report

“The Charter School Sector continues to expand as parents seek high-quality public education options. In 2012-2013, the sector served more than 2.3 million students in nearly 6,000 schools. If recent growth trends continue, the sector could double in size by 2025, serving 4.6 million children and representing nearly 10% of all public school students.

Research on charter school quality finds significant variations in performance across the sector. Many charter schools achieve outstanding results for students. Most perform on par with traditional public schools, although a number do continue to underperform.

The question is: will growth in the charter sector reflect today’s pattern of mixed quality? Or could adoption of judicious policies and practices create conditions that allow us to double the percentage of charter schools that provide an excellent education for students?”

“Replication” is the practice of a single charter school board or management organization opening several more schools that are each based on the same school model. The most rapid strategy to increase …